The recent discussions surrounding the salaries of top
administrators have been accompanied by questions regarding the
salaries of University of California professors.
The smaller salaries of UC professors compared to similar
institutions and the possible loss of top faculty is a growing
concern among university leadership.
The cash salary of the average UC employee is 15 percent behind
comparative institutions, said UC spokesman Noel Van Nyhuis.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the average
salary of a UCLA professor is $123,000, while an associate
professor makes an average of $78,100.
A professor at Columbia University makes an average of $140,400
with associate professors making $94,500. At USC, the professor
average is $123,800 and the associate professors make $84,600.
The health and retirement benefits are ahead of the market, but
the increasing healthcare costs and changes in the market may
change that, Van Nyhuis said.
“The healthcare and retirement benefits (have), to some
extent, offset our lower salaries,” said UCLA Academic Senate
Chair Adrienne Lavine.
Van Nyhuis said UC employees currently do not contribute to
their retirement plans.
“But that can’t sustain itself, it can’t go on
forever,” Van Nyhuis said.
The impending reduction in benefit advantages means that cash
compensation will have to increase, he added.
Keeping faculty from leaving in favor of institutions offering
higher salaries has been an issue, Van Nyhuis said.
This problem has occurred in the upper administration as
well.
At its Nov. 16 meeting, the UC Board of Regents approved a
commitment to increase salary for UC employees to market rates over
the next 10 years.
The regents’ commitment to raise professor salaries may be
difficult to accomplish, considering the budget problems plaguing
the state that have resulted in continual student fee
increases.
“We don’t know how its going to happen,” Van
Nyhuis said. “It’s something the regents are going to
have to determine.”
Lavine also believes the funding for salary increases would be
difficult.
“We need to continue to sell our case to the state,”
Lavine said. “The university will also continue to fundraise
aggressively.”
At UCLA, the problem is often addressed by counter-offers for
professors who have been offered higher salaries elsewhere, Lavine
said.
“UC faculty is heavily recruited, and UCLA has been
aggressive in keeping them by offering higher salaries,”
Lavine said. “We have been fairly successful.”
Salary decisions are made at the local universities, and so
things like cost of living play a role in decision-making here at
UCLA, Lavine said.
A resolution passed by the UC Academic Senate in support of the
salary increases also opposed the recommendation of a Regents
committee proposal that would allow for private funding of the
salaries of top administrators.
Lavine cited concern for “undue influence” of such
donors, as well as a straying from the focus of the mission of the
UC: to teach and research.
The regents did not address this aspect of the committee’s
recommendations during the meeting.